


in the moment we're lost and found

by serenitysea



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Crossover, Family Shenanigans, Female Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 17:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3258995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenitysea/pseuds/serenitysea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her name is Angie Martinelli.</p><p>    No.</p><p>    That’s a lie.</p><p>    Her name is actually Rebecca Barnes.</p><p><b>aka</b>: <i>the one where angie martinelli had an older brother named james and she’s really just another girl from brooklyn.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	in the moment we're lost and found

**Author's Note:**

> \+ hi there! this is my first foray into the agent carter fandom so thank you for taking a chance on me!

Her name is Angie Martinelli.

No.

That's a lie.

Her name is _actually_ Rebecca Barnes.

*

She's just a girl from Brooklyn.

*

Rebecca Agnes Barnes is born when her brother is seven years old.

She follows James around like the sun rises and and sets to his agenda. Sometimes she witnesses her fair share of scrapes and swears — moreso than Ma would probably be comfortable knowing — but James always takes care of her. He makes her feel safe, and holds her close after she has nightmares and is always sneaking her his extra food.

(They both know it's not _extra_ food at all and that he needs it more than she does — but times are hard and James has always carried the weight of the family on his shoulders and she knows that refusing it would be even crueler.)

*

Steve Rogers is a skinny little punk.

She kind of thinks he's cute, for a scrawny fella. He fights scrappy and holds his own and, _damn it all_ (one of her favorite swears picked up from James) he _tries_ so hard to keep up — and would, if not for the damn asthma (and litany of other health problems he's got).

Rebecca knows how to stretch a loaf of bread to last nearly two weeks and she does, frequently.

But when Steve comes around with James, and they're both looking bruised and bedraggled, she warms up two slices and carefully spreads on a king's portion of jam and pushes it on them until they're eating and the shadows disappear from their eyes.

*

The boys go to war.

They don't come home.

*

Her Ma never recovers.

She just sort of shrivels into herself until there's nothing left of her but a hollowed out shell of who she used to be — and then one day, she's just not there anymore.

Her Pop, well.

He doesn't do well without her Ma.

*

She doesn't have much left by way of funds after she's paid off the double funeral.

The neighbors are kind and want to help, but they're in the same boat and she can't take from them knowing that they'd be without food or down on the rent the next week.

She has one bad night where she just plows through a bottle of cheap whiskey and cries until she passes out.

Then she wakes up with a headache the size of Texas and allows one last nostalgic look around at the place she calls home.

Her eyes land upon the bottle of Martinelli's apple juice — the only thing they had left — and she nods.

She can do this.

*

Angie Martinelli is a powerhouse.

She's strong and she's tough and she doesn't take no for an answer.

She's the kind of woman who has the faintest echo of a roguish wink and charming smile better suited to features stronger than her own (and leave you wondering where you'd seen that dimple before) but will have you laughing before you can give it more than a passing thought.

She has a soft spot for anyone down on their luck and will always stop to toss in change at the Red Cross buckets on the corner.

She's just another girl from Brooklyn after all, and they make 'em strong over there.

*

Peg is the kind of friend you want to keep around.

She's incredibly stubborn and has an unconscious habit of looking horribly sad when she thinks no one is looking. (When she forgets _not_ to be.)

 ~~Rebecca~~ Angie knows all about being sad and not wanting to tell people your reasons why, so she doesn't push it.

Instead she tries to charm her into conversation and always gives an inward cheer of success when Peggy gives her that rare smile.

Her accent is lovely and sometimes Angie can't help but rile her up just to see what kind of reaction she can get out of her.

*

(James had written letters to her and he talked of Steve's lady. She can't remember if he ever mentioned her name, but she does recall a few details about her; dark hair, brown eyes — English accent that could slice a man at fifty paces.)

(She could tell that James admired the young lady, even as he respected that Steve was sweet on her — because he only spoke of her briefly and in the kind of details one didn't get pay attention to if they were too busy hung up on other _ahem_ prominent assets.)

(She loved her brother but she isn't going to deny that there had been dames lined up for weeks after he passed, brokenhearted and a dime-a-dozen. She has never had any illusions about just _what_ that grin of his had been able to do.)  
  
*  
  
Angie figures that Peggy must be a kind of common name (the way Mary and and Sue are) and that _Carter_ is a lot like _Smith_.  
  
She never wants to make Peggy feel bad for having the same name as Margaret Carter, the lady soldier who occasionally ran with Captain America's squadron — so she calls her ' _English_ ,' instead.  
  
It suits her.  
  
It seems _safer_.  
  
*  
  
There is a night she leaves the Automat later than is wise.  
  
She knows this and yet, she couldn't leave any earlier.  
  
There had been a pain in the ass customer who sucked up all her time and tipped lousily (what else was new?) and she's been in these damn shoes for thirteen hours straight and her toes have gone numb from the cruel pinch of them.  
  
Maybe that's why she's distracted and not paying attention to the way the shadows lengthen and grow at the end of the street. Why she doesn't hear the second set of footsteps until they are too close to avoid. Why the hand that comes over her mouth has the element of surprise — completely throwing her off guard and rendering her momentarily paralyzed.  
  
Time slows down.  
  
There is a thud and a muffled groan of pain and the hand falls away, along with its owner.  
  
She whirls around to confront her would-be rescuer but there is no one there.  
  
No one but the attacker who is clutching his neck like he'd been nearly strangled to death by extreme force.  
  
(She doesn't know any man who has the strength capable for that, except maybe Captain America.)

(It's extremely unlikely he came back from the dead just to rescue her from a mugger.)  
  
(That night she goes home and drinks all of the schnapps.)  
  
*  
  
Life goes on.  
  
*  
  
Angie works at her friendship with Peggy, follows the rules at the Griffith House ( _mostly_ , or at least doesn't break the ones that will get her thrown out) and rolls her eyes at some of the more dramatic behavior of their housemates. (Everyone knows you _take care of business_ before you come home at night.)  
  
She believes that pie and schnapps are a perfectly acceptable meal and often invites Peggy over to partake so they can commiserate about their day.  
  
She keeps going to auditions in between her shifts at the Automat.  
  
She's going to be _somebody_.  
  
She's more than just another girl from Brooklyn.

**Author's Note:**

> \+ [tumblr](http://b-isforbombshell.tumblr.com)


End file.
